Janitor On Duty

January 9th, 2008

10:35 PM

G... L... B... uh, where's the T?

GLBT stands for Gay, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders/Transsexuals, as you may know. I've seen some publishers use "GLBT" as a category for their works. Obviously, we have the G by the truckloads. The L, well, not as frequent as the G, but there are a few out there. The B is where we have all the MMF stories. Let's ignore the realism of the depictions of the G, L, and B in the rainbow equation. I'm curious: where is the T?

I wonder about this when I am rearranging my DVD collection in anticipation of weekend updates of my movie review section when I come across my copy of The Crying Game. Okay, the crossdresser fellow may just be a gay man with a tendency to dress in women's clothes instead of a genuine transgendered person, but I thought the movie was a far better love story than a thriller and I wonder whether I will ever see any crossdressing hero in a romance. Is that too "feminine" for romance readers to accept in a hero? I enjoy the movie Transamerica very much and that movie features a lead character who was once a man but is now just a surgery away from becoming the woman that he feels he should have been born as. I wonder whether there will be any romance stories with transgendered characters within the genre (I'm sure there are a such stories in the mainstream/gay fiction aisles).

Any epublishers who are willing to test the waters with this? Torquere Books? After all, it's not accurate to go all GLBT when the T is not represented at all.

And if you have read this far, why not leave a comment letting me know whether you think you can enjoy such romances. No, I won't judge you if you don't think you want to read such stories - I am just curious as to whether there is any market for such stories among romance readers. Me, I'm game.

In other news, nothing to do with GLBT at all, can someone please do me a favor, read this book, and let me know whether I should get it? I find the blurb most interesting, but this time around I'm hoping someone else will be the guinea pig and give this book a try. The book link is here.

Merry Rogers should have known the handsome stranger was trouble. First he accosts her in the supermarket, raving like a lunatic and calling her by the wrong name. The next thing she knows, she's duct-taped to him in a dark cabin in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly Merry's quiet, college-town existence is history and she's chasing spies with a very unlikely partner. Plus, the whole fiasco has led her to question her own identity. James Caesar is a hard-nosed, hard-assed secret agent. He's been looking for Merry but he didn't anticipate that finding her would lead them into a web of danger and dirty espionage. As they dodge bullets and decode enemy secrets, he has to convince her to put her present life in the past. And make her remember how he fits into her past.

I am honored to be singled out - good, bad, or indifferent - from La Giggles. *g* I always love your reviews. Send me an email, ma'am, and I'll forward the book for free...milkbone undies at excite dot com - no spaces. (Of course, if you liked THAT blurb, the book that was out 2 days ago would really give you a chuckle.)

I started writing one, and realized I didn't know enough about T folk or mystery novels to pull it off. (but it has the line "there really isn't a lot of stuff for parents of a straight girl who dates a boy, who just happens to have periods in sync with hers.")

Am currently doing my homework so I can finish it.

OTOH, I am finishing revisions to a sequel that involves the hero living as a woman for about half the book. Nikolai comes out next week. I plan to send Niko-chan off for consideration at that time.

(my human-check is "geat" The only language suited to a really elegant latrine joke)

January 10th, 2008 @ 12:32 PM

Posted by Theresa:

I read another Lyn Cash book, not the one in this post. It was good and I'd definitely read her again.

January 11th, 2008 @ 3:22 AM

Posted by veinglory:

Don't know of any, but I would really love to see someone pull of a straight or (legitimately) bi crossdresser or transexual. The closest I've ever come to seeing such a character in film or print was Lola from All About My Mother. First time I saw that movie, I kept wondering how the hell anyone could seduce the chicks and the dudes with machismo and a set of fake boobs, but damned if Toni Canto rock that role and convince me that he could leave a trail of broken hearts, broken lives, and bastard children in his high-heeled tracks.

I've just bought one today, for reviewing on Speak Its Name - "Gaderene" by Tina Anderson and C B Potts - it's about a guy in Five Points NY in the late 19th Century and his lover, a transgendered Pole, Wira. But I agree, you don't see many of them around and I'm surprised at that seeing as how a lot of m/m writers came from fandom and crossdressing/trans is a bit hit in fandom.